I didn't know what to entitle this thread. I've fairly recently discovered the advantages of P60 hosts. It's about as big as I'm going to carry for most uses, you can find a version with whatever your choice is for a battery supply and the drop-ins are very convenient and numerous.
I'm surprised that there aren't more niche companies (like Shiningbeam) or even manufacturers (like Solarforce) who cater to this market. There should be snap-on diffusers for this body style but other than an overly complex and expensive Surefire version I'm not aware of any except the overly large cones or lantern heads.
All it would take would be some decent diffusion filter in a snap-on cap. Most of the homemade versions either filter way too much light out or require taking out the lens to install it. A P60 with a XR-E drop-in is a good thrower but it's not the best beam for in the house or close-up. A simple snap-on filter would convert this to a very nice light source and would be very easy to go back to throw.
Many people seem to want a forward clicky but other than Solarforce which has a replacement tailcap I believe it's pretty hit and miss. I've come up with a decent fix for me but it still should be just a matter of ordering a forward clicky for a P60 but it's not.
It's the same way with an aspheric lens. They are out there but you would think that one company would find a good aspheric for a P60 host and advertise it that way...one stop shopping. When you replace the front lens with the aspheric lens generally you now cannot use diffusers and you can't put the light head down on a flat surface. If a deeper add-on flat bezel was offered with the aspheric this problem would be solved as well.
It's odd that a company would offer a P60 host without thinking about and offering all of these other simple things. Generally everyone that wants the host would like all these other things as well as long as they are affordable and not overdone like Surefire.
I guess this is more of a rant than a question but if anyone else has any thoughts feel free to contribute. If you happen to have found small snap-on diffusers which diffuse but don't reduce a lot of light mention those here as well.Maybe you have found more accessories for general P60 hosts than I have.
I think one problem is the whole P60 concept was developed by SureFire and at any time they might be able to enforce a patent and shut everything down. You'll see people refer to the more generic D26 standard, but I'm not sure giving it a different name would matter that much.
Solarforce does a pretty good job of the most lego-able parts but I'm surprised they are so far behind in introducing XP-G drop-ins.
Yes your right i have never thought about a diffusor, all i see are filter lenses over at ITC..........I usually edc two lights on one made for indoors that has a big spot and one used when im out....
I just got done chatting with Jason over at SB and they will be getting Diffusor lenses.....thats at least something. Should be here this coming tuesday.....its not a snap on lense to say the least but it would do for now i guess. And it seems to do a good job at outputting a lot of light. Im going in on one......if i ever get another dropin for my other L2m then im going to put this sucker in there.
It's a step in the right direction. I'm really being to like Shiningbeam. I didn't get what all the fuss was about at first when I saw favorable posts. I'm not that into Romisens although I have one...not too exciting. I saw the SB carried a few things that DX did.
But when I decided to order forward clickies last Sunday and after I put my order in online I got an email from Bryan saying that my order was packed already (on Sunday) and would ship first thing Monday morning. He's on the east coast, I'm on the wst coast but I received them in the mail on Thursday.
Shipping is only $2.75 so it's easier to put in an order even if you don't need anything big at the moment because the shipping isn't going to kill you.
I ended up ordering 4 switches just in case I screwed up one and just in case I wanted them for other lights. The entire order was less than $10.
I'm going to check the accessories area of their website a little more often now.
I have a couple of really nice diffusion filters that came with a dive light (UK Light Cannon) that I sold recently but I kept the filters. I could cut them to fit my two P60 hosts as they work really well but I'd still rather have a quick snap on.
Thanks for joining man....was hoping you would. Can you give us an estimate on how much the lenses are going for, since you have taken most of my monies anyway lol.
Another issue i have noticed is the heat issue......i noticed that the dropin doesnt sit up against the wall as it should and it creates a small heat pocket causing the Head of the light to heat up. I did what Don and Ted did by wrapping the dropin with aluminum tin, i used a redbull can. Cant say how much i used i just made sure that the gap was filled for better heat transfer......Now the light is warm to the touch which is good for a longer lasting led.
This probably works better on the more recent throat designs with the reflector supported - the older designs like the WF-502 have very little contact with the body of the light and need quite a lot of packing. If I were being careful I'd use a little thermal goop between the layers too. But that gets really messy.If you look at pictures of the Malkoff ones (But I don't spend that much on whole lights (well apart from two of them)) they have a parallel barrel that is much closer to the throat and will make far better thermal contact.
Personally i don't reccomend thermal goop because perfect goop + thin (household) aluminum foil heatsinking on p60 dropins is very hard to do you might get alot of air pockets (if applying goop to each layer) and it gets often very messy. Carefully wrapping with foil is often more than adequate but don't do a half ass job. Thermal goop would be best if you manage to find the exact aluminum or cooper tube to fit in between the host and dropin but thats wishfull thinking. The best would be very thin copper adhesive tape with very little adhesive that doesen't disrupt themals much but i was unable to find it.
Also i believe that star to pill contact on many flashlights needs to improve considerably. At stock form they are often poorly sinked. That silicone glue is often a poor heat conductor in the way they usually use it to glue stars on pill. The two mating surfaces are often far from being flat either. I believe this is oen of the reasons too that a same flashlight model behaves thermally differently between samples if pulling same amps and foil wrapped.
Another approach would be to thermal glue an aluminum/copper ring to the body so dropins may snug fit and can be rplaced easily. But then again i have very little confidence in heat conductivity of thermal epoxy glues.
If someone have acess to a lathe that would be the best option to DIY a dropin tube that fits the difference between hosts. Quite impratical since many p60 hosts does not feture german garade precision machinig... at least my hosts are all quite different regarding inner dropin cavity diameter.
http://www.sbflashlights.com/Thrunite-Dropins-c18/
